<p>Certainly the prospective Classics major (with the extracurricular involvement to substantiate this interest) is a breath of fresh air to admissions officers, but does the reverse hold true as well?</p>
<p>That is, do prospective popular majors (e.g. economics, premed) hurt their chances simply because they are applying for a popular major? </p>
<p>Now add one more detail into the picture: let's say this applicant was not simply a premed hopeful, but an Asian premed hopeful. Affirmative action aside, would being the stereotypical Asian premed further hurt one's chances?</p>
<p>It depends on the college. Some admit by major, others do not. Some admit by division (“College of Engineering”, “College of Arts and Sciences”, etc.).</p>
<p>Pre-med is not a major and can be done alongside any major that has sufficient schedule space left over to take the pre-med courses.</p>
<p>If all entering freshmen were admitted to the general college (no specialized “schools” e.g. engineering, business, nursing), would applying as, say, an Economics major–or any other popular major–be disadvantageous?</p>
<p>Maybe a little. I had a friend who wasn’t that special in class who got admitted with half scholarship to Rice because he wanted to major in Business.</p>
<p>As to your Asian question, then yes (so I’ve heard), being Chinese, Indian, etc. at top schools supposedly works against you in admissions.</p>
<p>Being Asian doesn’t hurt you. Being too ordinary (or worse, low energy,) defintely hurts you. Being the umpteenth applicant from your school, city or area, ups the competition. Having what turns out to be a common picture (same rigorous classes, same activities, etc,) can be a problem. You need certain requisites and then to show some breadth.</p>
<p>Yes, being yet another STEM kid is tough- so many of the other applicants- and, at a top school, there will be thousands- will have nearly perfect hs records, outside research or internships, proof of leadership and maturity (which is more than hs clubs.) </p>
<p>Classics is usually easier for guys to get into. But, you still have to offer a full picture of your worthiness.</p>
<p>Except for impacted or limited-enrollment majors, or cases that require you to apply to a particularly competitive division of the university, such as a school if engineering, major matters little, if at all.</p>
<p>Those really popular majors are really bug departments, with a lot of faculty and support staff. They expect to enroll a lot of students. And those uncommon majors are small departments, with small faculties and small support staff. They’d be overwhelmed by too many majors.</p>
<p>Additionally, colleges and universities know that undergraduates do a lot of major-changing. They know many people will end up majoring in something other than what they put in their applications.</p>
<p>I really think those admissions committees drooling over prospective classicists are an old wives’ tale.</p>
<p>It again depends on the school. Check to see whether new freshmen are admitted directly into majors, or if new freshmen all enter undeclared (in some cases, new freshmen are admitted directly into majors, but the school also admits some to the school but not the major).</p>
<p>Note that some popular majors at some schools require existing undeclared students to apply to declare them.</p>
<p>Here are some examples:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Berkeley: all freshman applicants to the College of Letters and Science are considered together, and all who are admitted and attend enter as undeclared. A few majors are impacted and require applying to declare, although most can be declared after just passing the prerequisites. Changing to a major in a different division (e.g. College of Engineering, School of Business Administration) does require applying to do so.</p></li>
<li><p>San Jose State: all freshman applicants apply to a major or as undeclared. Thresholds for admission vary by major (see <a href=“http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-1012.html[/url]”>http://info.sjsu.edu/web-dbgen/narr/admission/rec-1012.html</a> ). Current who wish to declare or change major must apply to do so.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Well, my employer drools over male classics applicants and has said, “oops, another English major.” The various depts may be larger or smaller, to accommodate, but the lower enrolled depts still have to fill a target number of seats. And, with thousands of STEM kids, does anyone think the U will just keep taking them without regard to space? </p>
<p>The issue of kids changing majors is factored in, much like yield. </p>
<p>Kids don’t declare til later. Anything could happen. Including so many sci-math kids getting weeded out. But, you are judging a candidate based on the package he presents- if you say you want classics, you had better be able to back that up. It’s possible to game the system, but not easy. In any given year, only insiders know how many in a dept are graduating, whether the dept has a couple of faculty on leave or returning, or if there’s new money to fund some expansion in a major or particular programs. Plus, the standards are too high. But that’s my experience.</p>
<p>@lookingforward
I’m a little confused. With “oops, another English major” do you mean that it would have been in the applicants’ better interests to say classics instead?</p>
<p>I’m not sure, as I’ve wondered the same thing. But let me give you a little anecdote - I knew a person who applied to Tulane as a “Jewish studies” major. He got in. Then he switched to Economics. Clever, right?</p>
<p>Blankk, I don’t think a kid should unethically try to game the system. In this example, if you don’t have a picture that makes it logical that you might want to dig into classics- more than just the classes in hs (or even the classes!)- adcoms will spot that. In our case, we care that a kid (seems he) can make a solid decision and has been pursuing those interests for some time. There are exceptions- some kids are brilliant undeclareds. (But, they are harder to evaluate.)</p>
<p>Only if you know that he wouldn’t have gotten if he’s written “Economics” on his application. The fact that he said “Jewish studies” and got in doesn’t mean he got in because he wrote “Jewish studies.”</p>
<p>Lookingforward, don’t worry, I wasn’t planning on doing that ;). I am a little bit conflicted though, because the “passion” that will show up in my app will be writing, but I don’t really think that English particularly is a good representation of it, since reading literature isn’t a strong hobby of mine, nor would it show up on an app in any way (not that I’m that sure how it could. . .). Should I put English anyway as planned major? Or should I look for a school with a Creative Writing major?</p>
<p>I’m not sure about all schools, but most have a limit to the number of students in one class, such as Eco 101 (or anything equivalent). Amherst, for example, has a limit of 35, and also has a waiting list for this class (too many kids chose this course). Given that without taking this course you are not allowed to take any further eco courses, this is, in essence, a limit to the number of students in that dept. So, one would be tempted to believe that students who put in Economics as their major would be judged a liiitle more strictly, than someone who put in something that is not very popular among freshmen. But I really think the effect of this is very small on admissions as a whole, although not negligible. This is because of the significant number of students getting in undecided and because of over 50% of students changing their majors from what they put down on the CA.</p>
<p>This is a much bigger issue of business schools and engineering schools.</p>
<p>Blankk, it depends on the level of the college. What’s important isn’t what a kid is “passionate” about, but how he or she translated that deep interest into something effective. You can pm me later, if you wish.</p>